National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) members at Unisa have vowed to carry on with protests until there is a resolution to the wage impasse as negotiations continue.

The Roodepoort campus was affected on Thursday. Protesters on Tuesday disrupted the graduation ceremony at the institution, causing graduations to be suspended.

“The protest will continue until we receive feedback. We have been trying to deal with it for almost six months ... Members this time decided they will picket until they receive feedback from management and hope they are going to get a positive response,” said Nehawu Unisa branch secretary Tshembani Valoyi.

The union wants the university to honour a collective agreement signed in January to pay members 3% and 7% on different grades.

“We are expecting the university to honour that agreement,” he said.

“Second, there is the issue of Sunday payment for security staff that was stopped illegally by the university in 2012. From 2012 to today, security have not been paid properly when they work on Sunday. We are saying that it’s a legislative matter that security must be paid time and a half on a Sunday and we expect that the university must rectify that matter and give them back pay from 2012.”

There was an engagement on Wednesday with university management and they are waiting for feedback.

The university said it was working towards a speedy resolution of the impasse and a return to normal operations as soon as possible.

All scheduled graduations from March 15 have been postponed until Tuesday.

Results that were scheduled for release on March 18 have now been moved to March 24.

Unisa spokesperson Victor Dlamini said: “This decision is intended to give space for management and Nehawu to resolve the impasse and to ensure that when the remainder of the graduation ceremonies resume, they do so in an environment safe from any possible disruption and inconvenience to graduates and guests.

“The university further affirms that alternative graduation arrangements are being considered to cater for graduates affected by these postponements.

“The talks between university management and Nehawu are currently in progress. The university is working towards a speedy resolution and a return to normal operations as soon as possible.”

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